


He'll Say Yes

by IchiBri



Series: Sheith New Year 2019 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal, Nervousness, Space Whale Vision, pre-proposal jitters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 18:37:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17289281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IchiBri/pseuds/IchiBri
Summary: “He’ll say yes.”Shiro’s shoulders jolted with a fright, and the snap of the ring box folding shut cut across the desert sand like a knife. He tucked it between his arm and his admiral coat before twisting with a clipped smile that he hoped hid the uneasy wobble of his heart.“I’m not sure… what you… mean.” Shiro’s steam ran out as Krolia raised a thin eyebrow that said she saw right through the waver of his voice and the sweat of his brow.





	He'll Say Yes

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt - Family

“He’ll say yes.”

Shiro’s shoulders jolted with a fright, and the snap of the ring box folding shut cut across the desert sand like a knife. He tucked it between his arm and his admiral coat before twisting with a clipped smile that he hoped hid the uneasy wobble of his heart.

“I’m not sure… what you… mean.” Shiro’s steam ran out as Krolia raised a thin eyebrow that said she saw right through the waver of his voice and the sweat of his brow.

She rounded the boulder he sat on and lowered herself next to him. With the Galaxy Garrison left behind them—far enough away that the roar of shuttles and test flights was a muted drone carried on the breeze—Krolia looked to the sky above, the sparse coverage of clouds against the pale blue. By the time the sun set low on the horizon, its fading rays coloring the sky a painted orange, the clouds would part with the arrival of the Blades shuttle descending through them.

“He’ll say yes,” she said again. Her gaze slowly turned, drifting over the mountain peaks and the brush of the desert, to Shiro’s fretful eyes. He stared down at his boots, his grip tight on his knee, and it seemed he couldn’t find any answers in the sand at his feet.

He turned his head to Krolia, and in his gaze, he begged—pleaded—for the words to ring true. His lips parted, but no sound came out. He swallowed the dryness clogging his throat and tried again. “What if he doesn’t?”

Krolia had seen Admiral Shirogane in work, and he was a man of pride and strength. In the face of outnumbering Galra battleships—a fight surely lost before even began—he was unwavering in his trust and belief in the paladins and his crew. Through every bleak battle, he stood with steel shoulders and an unbreakable spine. He fought with the hope of the people weighing on his shoulders, and beneath such pressure and expectation, he never wavered.

She also saw him hidden away in whispered conversations and quiet corners of the Atlas with her son. She knew how his eyes softened and his smile touched them with such tenderness when her son laughed. She knew how he stole glances at meetings and lost himself in the curve of Keith’s lips, hearing nothing of the meeting and sheepishly chuckling when Keith scolded him afterward. She knew how he brushed the bangs off Keith’s cheek and held him close in an embrace in which Keith could confide in after a long mission away.

But this raw, terrified vulnerability where he was one anxious thought away from retching his lunch onto the sand was an emotion Shiro didn’t know. So in love, the very thought of it falling and breaking at his feet—shattering into a relationship that couldn’t be repaired to what it once was, to what it’s grown into—had Shiro’s fingers trembling as he reached for the box.

Red velvet smooth under his touch, he opened the box. The sun caught on the simple gold band, twinkling off the diagonal line of small diamonds framed on each side by a strip of silver.

“What if he doesn’t?” he said again, his voice so small it dwarfed in comparison to the hammering of his heart.

Krolia inhaled a deep breath, and with it, her mind wandered back to the visions she saw in the quantum abyss.

Keith, in the senior Blades uniform with his hair grown out and braided to drape over his shoulder, shielded his eyes from the wind and dust of the shuttle’s landing. The engines still roaring in his ears, he searched the crowd of officers for the head of silver hair and endearing smile that always welcomed him home. His lips fell and worried between his teeth when the one person he waited months to return to was nowhere to be found.

With a wrinkle to his brow, he brushed past all the greetings with a polite smile and one man’s name on his tongue. He searched the halls, asking anyone within hearing distance if they’d seen the Admiral. They sent him on a rabbit hunt of scents and trails that ran him in circles around himself until finally, his fellow former paladins sent him in the right direction.

“Ran outta here like a wanted man.”

“Or a man on a mission.”

“Said he was going for a ride.”

“Something about needing a thrill.”

“And reminiscing. He seemed kinda sappy if you asked me.”

Keith sprinted from the room with a satisfied grin curving his lips. He snuck into the hangar and made off with Iverson’s hoverbike like he was fifteen again. Wind against his cheeks and igniting a fire in his blood, he raced over the sand, leaving behind the Garrison and an exasperated Iverson with only the echo of his laughter.

Over the dunes and sand, sending the brush in billowing clouds of dust, he sped faster up the hillside. When his path dropped off the edge of the cliff, he followed it with reckless abandon. His braid whipped behind him, reaching for the first twinkles of the stars as he nosedived for the earth. A twist of his wrist leveled the hoverbike, and he slowed to a steady hover, sand and dust rolling out from beneath him in waves.

When he spotted the glowing lights of another hoverbike sitting idle in the cracked dirt, he eased his way over to the man leaning against it. He parked and hopped to the ground, his steps quick to close the distance.

But when Shiro, with a wobbly smile and a tender sheen to his eyes, lowered to one knee, Keith stumbled in his step. His hand reaching out to Shiro froze before slowly rising to cover his mouth.

“Keith Kogane,” Shiro began, his voice thick and heavy with the emotion welling in his chest, his hand shaking as he pulled the ring box from his pocket, “will you make me the happiest man in the universe?”

Breaths stuttered through Keith’s nose as tears welled in his eyes. His answer screamed in his head, shouting to proclaim the love of his heart, but if his lips parted, the only sound would be snivels and sobs. He ran the last three steps separating him from Shiro, arms outstretched as he dropped to his knees. He clung to Shiro—fingers digging into his jacket—as he nodded enthusiastically against Shiro’s neck.

“Is… is that a yes?”

Keith lifted his head. Tears spilled down his face, but his smile was brighter than any before. “Yes. Yes!”

Shiro shuddered an exhale, and with it, he surged forward to kiss Keith. The ring box held between them, Shiro cupped Keith’s neck, his fingers twining in the stray tendrils of Keith’s braid.

Krolia blinked away the memory before fresh tears had the chance to pool in her eyes. She stood, and with a gentle smile, she grasped Shiro’s shoulder. A squeeze of her hand drew Shiro’s gaze to her.

“As many times as it takes, right?” she said before leaving Shiro with one last pat on the back.

Shiro twisted and stared after her retreating form. How did she…?

He took the ring from the box and turned it over in his hand to read the words engraved inside the band.

_As Many Times As It Takes_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> You can find me @ichibri on Twitter & Tumblr


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